Album Reviews : Nekrofeist – Nekrofeist EP

Expectations are always a tad low when an album comes my way with artwork reminiscent of the old Geocities days. With the amount of people familiar with Photoshop growing all the time, and sites like Deviantart around, there really isn’t any excuse for covers live this anymore. But I guess, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the music.

Unfortunately, the debut EP from NSW’s Nekrofeist just met my lowered expectations. Despite having a reasonably solid groove/thrash sound, and some decent riffs here and there, the self-titled release lacks any real energy or power. None of the four tracks (or two radio edits) here really stand out as a great track. Instead, each has a few good moments amongst some relatively uninspired, standard heavy metal. “Destroyed” has few crushing riffs, and a clear Anthrax influence in the vocals, while “Choke” has a pretty cool solo in the latter half. But in between those moments, there isn’t much.

Vocalist Dave Tinelt alternates between a ballsy growl and traditional heavy metal cleans, and pulls off both fairly well. There are a few awkward cleans but that’s almost always the case with young bands. For a debut EP the production is stellar; rough enough to give the riffs a little bit of edge, but still clear enough to give all of the instruments their space, including the bass, which is a nice change.

This might all sound quite negative but it’s not necessarily a bad release; it just sits in that awkward middle ground where it lacks the unadulterated aggression of thrash, and sort of heavy groove that make you tingle all over. Good but not great, solid but nothing special. If you’re a diehard groove metal fan, Nekrofeist is probably worth a listen.

Mitch Booth is the owner, designer and grand overlord of Metal Obsession. In the few seconds of spare time he has outside of this site, he also hosts a metal radio show over on PBS 106.7fm in Melbourne (Australia) and organises shows under the name Untitled Touring. You should follow him on Twitter.